Daily GK Potion – 13th January 2015
- Cristiano Ronaldo wins FIFA Ballon d’Or award for 2014
- Cristiano Ronaldo has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or award for 2014. He earned the title of world’s best football player for a third time.
- He beat Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer and four-time winner Lionel Messi in a vote of national team captains and coaches from FIFA’s 209 member countries, plus selected journalists.
- He retained football’s highest individual honor after scoring 61 goals for Real Madrid and Portugal last year.
- Government appoints Kiran Kumar Alur Seelin as Isro chairman
- The center government has appointed AS Kiran Kumar, the director of Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, as the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
- Kumar, 62, is one of the senior-most scientists serving ISRO.
- Anirban Lahiri voted 2014 Asian Tour Players’ Player of the year
- Anirban Lahiri has been voted the 2014 Players’ Player of the Year for his successful exploits on the Asian Tour.
- Australia launches online visa pilot programme for Indians
- A pilot programme was today launched to make it easier for Indian business and tourism visitors to apply online for travel to Australia.
- The pilot programme, which has been kicked off on a trial basis, covers online lodgement of subclass 600 visas for Indian business and tourism visitors. It will be rolled out through selected travel agents across India.
- BAE Systems Names Deepak Parekh as its India Chairman
- BAE Systems has appointed Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC Ltd, as a non-executive Director and Chairman of its Indian subsidiary, BAE Systems India (Services) Private Limited, with effect from1st January, 2015.
- Raghuram Rajan conferred central banker of the year award
- RBI chief Raghuram Rajan has been named as the “governor of the year” in the Central Banking Awards for 2015 by a British magazine for “his deep understanding of the root causes of economic problems of the country combined with an impressive leadership style.”
- Mr. Rajan, who was the chief economist of IMF and a well-known economist and author’s forthright observations about some of the less welcome developments in the global economic, financial and monetary system also represent an important voice for change.
- RBI, ECB ink MoU for cooperation in central banking
- Reserve Bank and the European Central Bank (ECB) have signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the area of central banking.
- Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB) on Monday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the field of central banking.
- Zomato to buy US food portal Urbanspoon for $60 mn
- Online restaurant guide Zomato has acquired Seattle-based food portal Urbanspoon with an estimated $60 million (Rs 370 crore).
- This latest deal is the sixth and biggest acquisition so far by Zomato.
- India’s Mars Orbiter team wins US award
- India’s Mars Orbiter programme team has won the 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category from the US based National Space Society (NSS).
- The NSS said its 2015 Space Pioneer Award in the science and engineering category has been won by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Mars Orbiter Programme team.
- “This award will be presented to an ISRO representative during the National Space Society’s 2015 International Space Development Conference, the 34th ISDC, to be held in Toronto, Canada,” the statement said.
- SEBI proposes easier norms for domestic mutual fund managers
- The regulator on Monday proposed to remove certain restrictions in the existing rules to facilitate domestic fund managers to tap foreign money.
- At present, for managing an offshore fund, the asset management company has to appoint the same fund manager who is managing domestic fund.
- Vibrant Gujarat 2015: Companies pledge to invest Rs 25 lakh cr
- Corporates from India and abroad pledged to invest an astonishing Rs 25 lakh crore and signed 21,000 MoUs at the 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
- This is more than double the investment amount committed during the last edition of the Summit in 2013 at Rs 12 lakh crore (with 17,000 MoUs).